Maine’s Sweet Season

Maine is full of maple trees, and right now, they are beginning to produce some of our state’s sweetest commodities.=====Bob Moore is the owner of Bob’s Sugar House in Dover-Foxcroft. He’s been making maple syrup for 62 years. This year, Moore isn’t taking any chances. He’s already tapped his nearly 5,000 trees, remembering all too well what happened to the sap last season.”It came in February,” says Moore. “And those that weren’t ready, including myself, missed a very valuable run, several runs. So, this year, we started tapping early to be ready, and we’re waiting.”Moore walks over to check a collection tank. “Nope, nothing in the tank today,” he says.An empty tank doesn’t worry Moore. He calls this season- typical.”I can remember when I started tapping, you didn’t even think about getting sap until the middle of March,” says Moore. “So, I’m not concerned at all.”Moore says last year’s season may have started early, but it also ended early. The days were just too warm to keep the sap running, and the trees dried up. He’s hoping this will be a good season, but after more than six decades in business, Moore knows someone else ultimately calls the shots.”100% Mother Nature, it certainly is,” says Moore with a chuckle.++++++Maine Maple Sunday takes places on March 27th.For a list of participating sugar farms, you can log onto maine maple producers dot com.